CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati volleyball team had a two-set lead over USF but could not hold off Bulls’ rally, falling 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 18-16) at Fifth Third Arena on Sunday afternoon. Three Bearcats recorded double-doubles and six set new career highs in the match.

After Cincinnati held a 2-0 lead in the match, the Bulls rallied with two sets of their own to force a decisive fifth set. The two teams traded points to open the game until a kill by freshman Ciara Hill (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) and two kills by sophomore Morgan Allred (Carrolton, Texas/Hebron) gave Cincinnati a 9-6 lead. The Bulls fought back to tie the score at 11-11 three times held off the Bearcats’ match point efforts. A kill by USF’s Dakota Hampton gave the Bulls am 18-16 victory and ended the match.

Three Bearcats recorded double-doubles in the match including Allred (18 kills and 13 digs), freshman Kristin Conor (Lone Tree, Colo./Highlands Ranch) (52 assists and 19 digs) and freshman Samantha Schrenker (Elmhurst, Ill./York Community) (10 kills and 13 digs). It is the second double-double of the season for Conor and the first-career double-double for both Allred and Schrenker.

Additionally, six players tallied career-high marks on the day. Conor tied a career high with 52 assists and collected a career-best 19 digs. Allred had a career-high 18 kills and Schrenker had career-bests of 10 kills and 13 digs. Junior Me’Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff) had a career-best 19 kills while Hill also tallied a career-high in kills with 18. Freshman Shelby Green (Dripping Springs, Texas/Dripping Springs) also got in on the career-high action with four service aces.

Together Cincinnati hit a season-best .272 hitting percentage while also tallying season-high marks with kille (71), total attempts (184) and assists (66).

Cincinnati employed a comeback in the first game to win 25-22 and take a 1-0 match lead. The USF Bulls were ahead throughout the beginning of the game and took an 18-14 lead on a kill by Kayla Bivins. But the Bearcats responded with three straight points on three USF errors to climb to within 18-17 and were able to keep close the rest of the way. Another Bulls error tied the score at 20-20 and Hill crashed home a kill on the following play to give UC a 21-20 lead. A kill by Allred put the Bearcats ahead 24-22 and on their first set-point opportunity, freshman Green served an ace to give UC the victory. Hill led all players with seven kills in the game and a .538 hitting percentage while Conor added 10 assists. Cincinnati collectively hit .294 in the opening game, its second first-set win of the season.

In the second game, the Bearcats came out of the gate rolling, using a 7-1 run to propel them to a 10-5 lead. The margin grew to 17-10 following kills from Hill and Schrenker forcing the Bulls to call a timeout. USF did its best to make things interesting, riding five straight points to get to within 22-20, but a service error gave the Bearcats the 25-23 victory in the second game. Cincinnati upped its totals from the first game by hitting .325 with 16 kills in the second. Allred led the charge with five kills while Conor had seven digs for Cincinnati.

The Bulls jumped ahead in the fourth set and held off several Cincinnati rallies to win the game 25-22 and stay alive in the match. With the game tied at 20-20, USF got two straight points for a lead they would not relinquish. An attack error by Cincinnati gave the Bulls the win.

USF pulled even in the match after using an eight-point scoring run to win the fourth game 25-19. The Bulls used three kills, two service aces and three UC errors during the run that forced a decisive game five. The Bearcats got six kills from Nicholson in the game.

The Bearcats will continue their four-match homestand when they host the University of Louisville Cardinals at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18. The match will be a part of the team’s Dig Pink campaign in support of breast cancer awareness.